Papal Thoughts on the Immaculate Conception

4, Great indeed is Our trust in Mary. The resplendent glory of her merits, far exceeding all the choirs of angels, elevates her to the very steps of the throne of God. Her foot has crushed the head of Satan. Set up between Christ and His Church,[ Mary, ever lovable and full of grace, always has delivered the Christian people from their greatest calamities and from the snares and assaults of all their enemies, ever rescuing them from ruin.

5. And likewise in our own day, Mary, with the ever merciful affection so characteristic of her maternal heart, wishes, through her efficacious intercession with God, to deliver her children from the sad and grief-laden troubles, from the tribulations, the anxiety, the difficulties, and the punishments of God’s anger which afflict the world because of the sins of men. Wishing to restrain and to dispel the violent hurricane of evils which, as We lament from the bottom of Our heart, are everywhere afflicting the Church, Mary desires to transform Our sadness into joy. The foundation of all Our confidence, as you know well, Venerable Brethren, is found in the Blessed Virgin Mary. For, God has committed to Mary the treasury of all good things, in order that everyone may know that through her are obtained every hope, every grace, and all salvation. For this is His will, that we obtain everything through Mary.

Ubi Primum – Papal Encyclicals

9. This doctrine, unanimously received in the early Church, has been handed down clearly enough
by the Fathers, who claimed for the Blessed Virgin such titles as

• Lily Among Thorns; Land Wholly Intact;
• Immaculate; Always Blessed;
• Free From All Contagion Of Sin;
• Unfading Tree;
• Fountain Ever Clear;
• The One And Only Daughter Not Of Death But Of Life;
• Offspring Not Of Wrath But Of
  Grace; Unimpaired And Ever Unimpaired;
• Holy And Stranger To All Stain Of Sin;
• More Comely Than Comeliness Itself;
• More Holy Than Sanctity;
• Alone Holy Who, Excepting God, Is Higher Than All;
• By Nature More Beautiful, More Graceful And More Holy Than The Cherubim And Seraphim Themselves And The Whole Host Of Angels.”

10. If these praises of the Blessed Virgin Mary be given the careful consideration they deserve,
who will dare to doubt that she, who was purer than the angels and at all times pure, was at any
moment, even for the briefest instant, not free from every stain of sin? Deservedly, therefore, St.
Ephrem addresses her Divine Son in these words: “Really and truly Thou and Thy Mother are
alone entirely beautiful. Neither in Thee nor in Thy Mother is there any stain.” (Carmine Nisibena,
Ed. Bickell, 123). From these words, it is clearly apparent that there is only one among all holy
men and women about whom it can be said that the question of sin does not even arise, and also
that she obtained this singular privilege, never granted to anyone else, because she was raised to
the dignity of Mother of God.

PIUS XII  – Given at St. Peter’s Rome, on the eighth day of September, on the Feast of the Nativity of the
Blessed Virgin Mary, in the year 1953, the fifteenth of Our Pontificate.

1. Tota pulchra es, Maria!

On 8 December 1854, 150 years ago, Bl. Pius IX proclaimed the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The privilege of being preserved free from original sin means that she was the first to be redeemed by her Son. Her sublime beauty, which mirrors that of Christ, is for all believers a pledge of the victory of divine Grace over sin and death.

2. The Immaculate Conception shines like a beacon of light for humanity in all the ages. At the beginning of the third millennium, it guides us to believe and hope in God, in his salvation and in eternal life. In particular, it lights the way of the Church, which is committed to the new evangelization.

3. This afternoon, in my traditional tribute to the Blessed Virgin in Piazza di Spagna, I will entrust the city of Rome and the whole world to her, the Immaculate Mother of the Word made Man. Let us now pray for her powerful intercession with filial trust as we recite the Angelus 
Angelus,
8 December 2004, Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary | John Paul II

The one threat of which the Church can and must be afraid is the sin of her members. Whereas Mary is indeed Immaculate, free from any stain of sin, the Church is holy but at the same time she is blemished by our sins. This is why the People of God, on pilgrimage through time, addresses its heavenly Mother and asks for help; it asks her to accompany it on its journey of faith, to encourage the commitment to Christian living and to support its hope. We are in need of this, especially at this time which is so difficult for Italy, for Europe, and for various parts of the world.

May Mary help us to see that there is a light beyond the blanket of thick fog in which reality seems to be enveloped. For this reason, we too, especially on this Feast, do not cease to ask her for help with filial trust: “O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who turn to you”. Ora pro nobis, intercede pro nobis ad Dominum Iesum Christum!
‘Act of Veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary on the occasion of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception (December 8, 2011) | BENEDICT XVI

Brothers and sisters, contemplating this mystery we can ask ourselves: in our time, ravaged by wars and bent on the effort to possess and dominate, where do I place my hope? In strength, in money, in powerful friends? Do I place my hope there? Or in God’s infinite mercy? And in the face of the shiny false models circulating in the media and on the internet, where do I look for my happiness? Where is the treasure of my heart? Is it in the fact that God loves me freely, that His love always goes before me, and is ready to forgive me when I return repentant to Him? In that filial hope in God’s love? Or am I deluding myself in trying to assert my ego and my will at all costs?

Brothers and sisters, as the opening of the Holy Door of the Jubilee approaches, let us open the doors of the heart and the mind to the Lord. He is born of Mary Immaculate: let us implore the intercession of Mary. And I will give you a piece of advice. Today it is a good day to decide to make a good Confession. If you cannot go today, this week, until next Sunday, open your heart and the Lord will forgive everything, everything, everything. And so, in Mary’s hands, we will be happier.
Angelus, 8 December 2024, Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary | Francis